Revisioning State-Society Relationships in a Pandemic: New Zealand’s Response to Covid-19

In this paper, we examine the factors that contributed to New Zealand’s initial success, highlighting the distinctive state-society mandates that were forged through the response. We also reflect, briefly, on the emerging recent resurgence and its impacts that are still unfolding. The paper first outlines the government’s response strategy to initial outbreak of Covid in March-June. This is followed by an overview of the broader institutional factors that paved the way for its success. In the final section, we draw attention to several political philosophical considerations that impact upon the viability and effectiveness of collective action in response to health threats and view New Zealand’s Covid-19 trajectory in light of them.